In a standard ring-spinning machine as described in commonly owned and copending U.S. patent application 07/799,820 filed 25 November 1991 respective filaments are wound up onto respective tubes on respective spindles carried in a long row on a bank of such spindles, and in some arrangements filaments are pulled off rows of tubes similarly mounted on spindles. An equally long doffing apparatus has respective grabs that engage the tops of the tubes and remove same from the spindles, while a similar such machine or even the same one can mount replacement tubes on the spindles.
Such a machine works in an environment filled with lint and filament particles that get into everything. It is known, for instance from German patent 3,425,545 filed by I. Matsui with a claim to a Japanese priority of 11 July 1983, to provide an arrangement of blow nozzles and vacuum ports to try to control this dust, but such machines are mainly aimed at overall control of lint in the region of the machine. With time lint particles clog the seats of the grabs so that tubes cannot fit properly in them. Accordingly the machine must be periodically downed and the seats of the grabs must be individually cleaned. This is done as infrequently as possible to avoid excessive down time so that the buildup of lint is often allowed to progress to a point where several grabs of the apparatus are so fouled with lint as to be inoperative well before they are due for periodic cleaning.